Dragons and Lions
by TumblrFangirl
Summary: While wandering the Forbidden Forest at night due to a dare, Draco Malfoy finds a black lion cub that's injured. Deciding to take it in and care for it, they form a bond that let's them share strange powers. How will this little lion help Draco get closer to Harry Potter?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey guys! This is my first story on here, so please don't be rude. I will gratefully accept constructive criticism, and tips on how to make this story better. Oh, and there will be SLASH, so if you don't enjoy it, then the back button is right up there. Draco is also OOC, because I like him being nice.

Pairing: DracoxHarry,

Summary: While wandering in the Forbidden Forest as a dare from his housemates, Draco Malfoy finds an injured lion cub. Bringing it back to his room and caring for it in secret, he bonds with it and finds this little cub has an unusual power. And how will it help him get closer to Harry Potter? 5th year AU.

Rating: T for some swearing and make-out scenes.

Draco Malfoy was pretty damn sure he was lost. He had been dared by Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson that he couldn't stay in the Forbidden Forest for 3 hours and make it back to the common room undetected. And of course, being the prideful Malfoy he was, Draco had taken them up on the challenge and went out in the forest. And got lost. It didn't help that is was pretty much pitch black, and his Lumos charm wasn't doing much. Everywhere he looked, sharp branches and glowing eyes were all around him, making him feel like he could be killed at any moment.

"Fucking Theo and Pansy…they must have known this would happen…well, I'm not scared, you hear!?" The blond shouted into the darkness, feigning courage . Suddenly, he heard a pitiful sound answer him, seeming to come from the right of him. Draco stopped and turned, silver eyes searching for the source of the noise. Gulping and taking small steps forward, he moved a branch out of the way and saw something that made his breath catch.

The light from his wand illuminated the area, and there on the ground, bleeding, was a black lion cub. It's breathing was labored and slow, clearly fading fast. After standing there in shock for a few seconds, Draco used Levicorpus on the injured animal and carefully set it into his arms. The blond wizard found its pulse and sighed in relief, the lion was fighting to live. Now for the hard part: finding his way out of this damned forest and getting back to his room to heal his new charge. Hearing a branch crack behind him, Draco tensed and slowly turned around, imagining what terrifying creature had found him.

Instead of a werewolf or some other predator as he had suspected, he came face to face with a Thestral. He could see them because, earlier that year, his grandfather Abraxus had died of the dragon pox, and he had been in the room as the old wizard took his final breath. And although Thestrals were rumored to be rather peaceful creatures, they still looked creepy as hell. However, this astral-pegasus had no bad intentions, it seemed, as it had nudged his arm and trotted off, signaling Draco to follow. Deciding to take the risk and save the injured lion's life, he did as he was told, and briskly walked after the Thestral.

Soon the blond could see the Astronomy Tower off in the distance, and the entrance to the ancient castle. Groaning in relief, Draco quickly checked on the trembling cub in his arms. Seeing that it would survive if he got to his room quickly, the blond patted the Thestral on the snout, saying, "Thanks for getting me back. I owe you." After he thanked the creature, he ran towards Hogwarts, and heading for the dungeons. Out of breath, Draco panted out the password: "Sanguis Purus!" The stone wall moved, granting him entrance to his common room, and the blond jogged to his room. Thankfully, the Slytherin dorms only had two beds per room, and Draco's roommate, Blaise Zabini, was an extremely heavy sleeper. Opening up his door, Draco went straight to the large bathroom, setting the black lion into the sink and turning on the water, trying to clean up the blood.

The blond opened up his cabinet and picked out a blood replenishing potion, putting the vial at the animal's small mouth and pouring it down its throat, and did that with the other potions it needed. After a while of complete silence besides the clinking of potion bottles and Blaise's snores, the lion cub made another small meow, eyes fluttering open. Draco's silver eyes widened when he saw the yellow-golden eyes of the black animal.

Using a soft voice as to not startle the small creature, Draco whispered, "Hey little guy. Are you alright? What happened?" Honestly, he had no idea why he expected the lion to answer.

However, it seemed that the cub knew what he said. It made a slow and dazed scratching gesture with its paw, Draco translating it as something or someone had attacked the poor lion.

"So, something attacked you? Do you remember what? And how you got here? As far as I know, there aren't any lions out in the Forbidden Forest…" Draco mused, snapping out of it when the sluggish animal nodded, and shook its head twice, answering the questions.

The blond wizard smiled sadly, somewhat surprising himself, and picked up the black cub, hugging it carefully against his chest. Wanting to quickly check if the cub was male or female, he turned it around on its back and saw a small, furry penis. Coughing awkwardly, Draco said, "Alright, so you're a boy. Come on, I'll let you sleep in my bed, and I can figure out what I'm going to do with you tomorrow."

Setting down the male lion again, he quickly exited the bathroom and grabbed his undershirt and boxers, changing into them. Walking back to the bathroom to pick up the small male, he turned off the bathroom light and set the cub down on the covers and climbed in, tucking the blankets around himself and patted the spot next to him, signaling the animal to sleep next to him.

"I think I'll name you Raito for now, because you kind of remind me of a thunderstorm, with your fur and eye colour. Now come on, let's get some sleep, OK?" Draco smiled and the newly named Raito, falling asleep within minutes. As for Raito, the small lion purred, and snuggled up to Draco's chest, feeling lucky that such a nice human had rescued him. Neither were aware of the brief golden glow that surrounded them when they fell asleep.

A/N: And that's chapter 1! Please tell me what you thought, I'm a fairly new writer, and I'm sure I will become better with time and helpful tips.

Next chapter: Draco decides to keep Raito a secret, and he tells him a secret. Also, a run in with the Golden Trio!

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	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I just realized I forgot the disclaimer in the previous chapter…but oh well, it's there now. Oh, and I'm having a relapse on my acid reflux, so if I don't update for a while, it's because I'm in pain and I'm constantly lightheaded due to not eating much. Plus the whole month of May, we're doing the California Common Core testing. All that aside, here's chapter 2!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me, it belongs to J.K. Rowling. I only own the plot and Raito.

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Charmed sunlight shone on Draco's face, rousing him out of his unconscious state. He groaned, not wanting to get up today because he was tired as fuck and last night had scared the shit out of him and – wait…last night! Silver eyes went wide, sitting up and looking for the black lion cub he had found and healed. Sighing in relief, Draco observed that Raito was still asleep, twitching in his sleep.

Turning away and looking at the time, Draco swore.

"Shit, I'm going to be late for Potions! Severus will kill me!"

The blond jumped out of bed, disturbing Raito from his dream and waking him up, and rushed to his closet to grab his white button-up shirt, grey jumper, and the Slytherin robe. Quickly brushing his hair, he pets the little lion on the head before saying, "Hey Raito, do you want to come with me to my classes?"

Receiving a nod and excited meow from the animal, Draco continued.

"Alright, but you have to keep quiet and still if you don't want to get us in trouble. Lions aren't on the list of pets you can keep at Hogwarts. Now come on, let's go to Potions with the Gryffindors' and get it over with." The Malfoy heir picked Raito up and placed him in his bag, settling his hand on it to keep it balanced, so it wouldn't swing and disturb the cub.

Leaving the common room and cursing Blaise for not waking him up on time, Draco quickly walked to the Potions classroom. Right as he turned on the corner to the room, he bumped into Potter, Weasley, and Granger.

"Oi, watch where you're going, ferret!" Weasley shouted, glaring at the blond Slytherin.

Granger hissed at the Weasel, berating him for shouting when Professor Snape could possibly hear them.

"Yeah Weasel, listen to your girlfriend, you could get in trouble with Snape, or with a _prefect,_ which I am. Ten points from Gryffindor for shouting. Do remember to use your inside voice. Or are you just that used to yelling due to being raised in a barn?" Draco smirked.

He noticed that Potter hadn't said anything, and that the Boy-Who-Lived seemed a little pale. He knew that Potter often had detention with the terrible Umbridge, and he wondered what the detentions were if it made the Golden Boy so unresponsive.

Realizing if he kept wasting time with the Golden Trio he would be late, he pushed Weasley and Granger out of the way and walked into the Potions room, taking his usual seat at the front, just in time, too.

Draco heard Raito hiss inside his bag, and saw him moving around to get comfortable. Looking around to see if anyone had noticed, he bent down to open his bag and scooping up Raito, quickly hiding him in his robes. The hisses quickly changed into soft purrs, the lion cub obviously much more comfortable now.

Draco saw from the corner of his eye Granger, Potter, and Weasley slink into their seats at the back, hoping to not be noticed by Snape. No such luck for them.

"Potter, Granger, Weasley…late again, hmm? Twenty points from Gryffindor. Do not let it happen again, unless you desire a detention with Filch." Snape said quietly, but his voice echoing in the room.

"Today we will be creating a Blood Replenishing Potion. You will be working in pairs, and I do not care who you partner up with. Many of you know how to do this already, so I expect perfection from all of you. Well, for the most part." Snape continued, giving a pointed look the Gryffindor side as he said the last part.

The blond Slytherin was slightly surprised; Severus never let them pick their partners. Not that he was complaining. Draco decided to pair up with Theodore, and told him to go get the ingredients while he heated up the cauldron.

Lowering his chin to his chest, Draco whispered, "Raito, don't move or peek out of my robes, alright? This is dangerous, and I don't want you getting hurt. Got it?" Feeling a slight nod against his stomach, Draco got to work on his potion, Theo handing him the chopped ingredients.

Thirty minutes later, the silver eyed Slytherin was stirring the magenta potion until it turned a crimson colour. When it did, Theo called Professor Snape over and had him examine it.

"Well done Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Nott. A perfect potion. Twenty points to Slytherin." Snape praised, taking the potion and placing it on a shelf. Draco sighed and closed his eyes, waiting for class to be over so he could go take a nap in History of magic, which he remembered he had with the Hufflepuffs'.

'_Well, that's good, they won't notice Raito if he stays quiet, so maybe I can take him out for a bit…' _Draco mused, lost in his thoughts. He snapped out of it when he saw everyone packing up to go. Hoping that no one would notice, he took the squirming black cub out of his robes and carefully placed him back in his bag, taking out some books so the lion could have more room.

He got up from his seat and headed to Professor Binn's classroom, taking his time to walk up all those damned magical staircases. When Draco finally got there, he took the seat in the very back, noticing he was the last one to arrive; therefore, no one was sitting next to him. Perfect. Seventy minutes to let Raito have some movement before heading off to Transfiguration with the Gryffindors.

While all the students were asleep except him, and Binn's monotone voice droning on and on, he once again let his charge out of his bag. Raito mewled quietly, understanding that he would have to be quiet if he wanted to stay out here. Draco smiled at his little black cub, feeling sudden warmth in his chest. Shrugging it off, he laid his head on the desk next to Raito.

"Hey, Rai, can I tell you something personal? Well, I know you can't really tell anyone, but still. If you could, can you keep this a secret?" Draco whispered, stroking the furry black head.

Receiving a nod from his little friend, the blond continued.

"Well, did you hear that conversation between me and Granger, Weasley, and Potter? I don't know when, but…lately, I feel strange around Potter. Like, my heart starts racing, my mind goes somewhat blank, and…I think I like him…" Draco confessed to Raito.

The black lion tilted his head slightly, sympathy in his yellow eyes. He quietly shuffled closer to the distressed blond and licked his cheek, a sign that it would be okay. Draco smiled at Raito and kissed his nose, continuing on with his confession.

"Potter and I met before Hogwarts, but I made him hate me because of what I said. I didn't know his name, but if I did, I wouldn't have been acting like my father: superior and arrogant. And then I insulted his friend Weasley, which I believe made him hate me even more. But…I can't help but liking him. He's brave, he has real friends, he has people who care about him…everything that I don't.

"I've never had a true friend before. Everyone who hangs around me is just in it for the social status and money. I wanted Potter to be my first real friend, but he hates me, and I have to pretend I hate him. I'm so sick of it, you know?" At the end of his rant, Draco's eyes were bright with unshed tears. Raito, although young, knew that the blond was very upset over this Potter bloke. The black cub promised himself that he would help get Draco closer to Potter someday, as to thank him for saving his life.

When the bell signaling the class rang, Draco panicked and quickly placed Raito back in his bag before anyone could see him.

'_Damn, did I really spend that long wallowing in self-pity?' _Draco thought, heading towards Transfiguration with the Gryffindors. Lucky for him, Professor McGonagall decided it would be a lecture day, something about animagus. The topic interested Draco, but he really couldn't focus, he was too caught up in the fact that he had told one of his deepest secrets to a pet that he had just met yesterday.

The blond didn't feel disturbed by it though, he somehow knew he could tell Raito anything, and the lion would understand. He decided that he would go to the library during lunch and do some research on this. But for now, he just had to wait while McGonagall talked on and on about how an animagus form reflected on your personality. No one noticed a faint golden glow surrounding Draco and his bag for a few seconds.

In the Slytherin bag, Raito thought to himself, _'The bond is developing faster than I thought. It's a good thing though; that way I can repay Draco faster, and unlock my potential…'_ The black lion grinned to himself and fell asleep, thinking about his future plans involving one Draco Malfoy.

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A/N: Bleh, my fingers hurt, and it's 11 PM. I think I'm ready to go to bed and start a new day of (hopefully) no pain. Next chapter: Draco runs into Potter at the lake, and he discovers Raito. Draco discovers what Umbridge makes Potter do at detentions at the same time, and they start a fragile friendship.

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	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction right now, would I? Actually, maybe I would…

"_Blah" –Telepathy_

'_Blah' - Thinking_

Draco was walking towards the Black Lake now that classes were over for the day. Lunch had been hard seeing as he had to hide Raito underneath his robes and feed him without anyone noticing, and at the same time keep him quiet and unmoving. He managed though, and now he could just relax in his favorite spot near the lake, in a small clearing to trees that could shield people from view.

When he got there, he plopped down, Malfoy mask and etiquette manners gone. Draco placed Raito on the ground and let the black cub roll around and enjoy the fresh air. Trusting his charge not to run off, he leaned his head against the tree trunk and closed his eyes.

However, the tranquil atmosphere didn't last very long. Hearing footsteps, Raito's ears perked up, and he pounced on Draco, hissing in his ear to wake him up so they could hide. But it was too late; Harry Potter had stepped into the clearing and went wide-eyed at the sight of the black lion cub.

The silver-eyed wizard was awake now, and he spat at the Golden Boy, "What are you doing here, Potter? This is my spot! Go find your own place!"

"M-Malfoy," Potter stammered, in shock. "Is…is that a _black_ lion? Why do you have one?"

Draco glared at him, wishing that for once Potter's terrible eyesight would dismiss the sight of Raito. But, knowing that the boy would most likely go to Dumbledore if he didn't explain, the blond Slytherin began to tell him what happened.

"Well, Potter, I was wandering in the Forbidden Forest at night because of a dare from my housemates, and I kind of got lost. I heard a sound come from my right or something, and I saw an injured animal, which turned out to be this little guy. I took him back to my room after a Thestral showed me the way, and healed him using some potions from my cabinet. And now he's my familiar.

I swear, Potter, if you tell anyone, I will make you regret it!" Draco hissed threateningly, wanting to make sure that the younger teen wouldn't tell his friends or mentors.

He heard Potter mumble something like, "As if I haven't had enough secret keeping this year…" and it sparked his interest.

"What do you mean you haven't had enough, Potter? Does it have to do with Umbridge and her detentions? Or with the return of Voldemort?" Draco asked, observing that the emerald-eyed teen went pale at the Umbridge suggestion.

It roused his suspicion even more, what could the pink bitch be doing to Potter to make him quiet and tense? It seemed Raito knew what was up. The black cub rolled off of Draco and scurried over to Potter, sitting at his feet.

"_Don't worry, Dray. I got this." _A male childish voice resounded in the blond Slytherin's head. He had no time to ponder it though, as Potter had bent down to see what Raito wanted, and the lion grabbed the Gryffindor robe with his teeth, pulling up to expose Potter's hand.

Silver eyes widened as they saw the words 'I must not tell lies' were carved into a pale hand. Draco was speechless, is that what the toad was doing to the Golden Boy?

"Potter…is Umbridge making you write with a bloodquill? That's illegal! She could be put into Azkaban for using it on a minor, she could get fired from her position in the Ministry! Oh, what a bitch!" Draco ranted; outraged for Potter's sake.

Harry, on the other hand, was a bit confused. Why was Malfoy worried for him? Shouldn't the Slytherin be pleased about what Umbridge was doing to him, not concerned? Then again, Malfoy wasn't supposed to be nice to small little animals, healing and taking care of them.

"Look Malfoy, I can't tell anyone about my detentions and neither can you. If it got out, Umbridge will do worse. I'm not scared of her, but I'm worried she'll do something to my friends. She was a Slytherin, so I wouldn't put it past her. And if you keep my secret, I'll keep yours. No one will know about my detentions, and no one will know about your lion. Deal?"

Potter's comment about Slytherins' stung Draco, but it didn't show on his face. Pushing the slight pain in his chest away, the blond wizard nodded and patted the spot next to him, signaling Potter to sit down. The Gryffindor looked surprised, but sat down anyway.

"_Aw, you two are so cute together! I can see the ties of friendship between you and Harry growing already. He must be something special to you, huh?" _ Draco heard the child's voice in his head again, and not wanting to attract Potter's attention to his face because of his blush, he looked for the source of the voice by just moving his eyes.

The Malfoy heir heard the voice giggle.

"_Oh, looking for me, huh? Well, I'm right in front of you! It's me, Raito!" But keep your face blank, don't want to get Harry suspicious now, do we? I'll tell you some things after dinner. For now, just enjoy your time with your love~!" _

Draco frowned lightly at the last part, and raised his eyebrow at Raito, who stared at him innocently. He sighed, and leaned forward to pick up his familiar and place him on his lap, lightly tapping his nose.

Harry looked at them and sighed, leaning back against the tree, closing his eyes much like he had found Malfoy doing earlier.

Draco thought they had settled into a peaceful silence until Potter asked him, "Malfoy, what do you think about Umbridge?"

He didn't have to think twice about that answer.

"I think that evil little toad is a bitch. Even though she treats us Slytherins' like fairly, I can't stand her. If I didn't hate her before, I definitely do now." Draco glared at nothing, thinking about how horrible Umbridge was.

"Why do you care, Malfoy? I haven't even shown Ron and Hermione, and I don't they'd feel at concerned as you do…" Potter continued, still feeling confused.

Draco snorted, surprising both of them. The Slytherin mentally shook it off and answered, "I care because it's against the law, Potter. I'm sure Mu- Granger would know about it as well. Bloodquills are only used for signing documents and such. Not for writing lines in detentions, and especially not for minors, but I'm sure the bitch knows that."

The Gryffindor seemed to accept his answer and ignored his almost slip up of Granger's name. Casting a Tempus charm, Draco saw it was 7:30, half an hour until dinner. Raito had fallen asleep in his lap, so he got up and carried the black cub in his arms. The silver-eyed teen turned to look at the Boy-Who-Lived.

"Potter, it's almost dinner, and I'm heading in. Are you coming?" He asked, holding out a hand. Draco had a sudden flashback to their first year on the train, where Potter refused his hand. He snapped out of it though, when he felt a smaller hand grab onto his and pull slightly, helping Potter stand up.

The green-eyed wizard flashed him a tiny smile, and Draco couldn't help but return it. Both were aware of the fragile friendship forming between them as they walked back to the castle for dinner.

A/N: Yay, chapter 3! I'm writing as often as I can, so school and life doesn't get in my way and make me go on a super long hiatus. AND DID ANYONE SEE THE TROYLER KISS OMG IT WAS SOOO CUTE!

Next chapter: Raito tells Draco his secrets, and Harry and Draco get closer during class. Also, Quidditch!

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	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, I only own Raito.

"Alright Raito, spill. You told me you would tell me your secret after dinner, and it's after dinner. Now tell me what's going on." Draco demanded as soon as he closed the door to his room. Blaise was out in the common room, and from the way things seemed at dinner, he would spend the night in Daphne Greengrass's room.

"_Fine…you're so impatient. Anyway, I'll start from the beginning. I was born to a regular breed of lions, but due to something in my genes, I have black fur and magic. My magic is kind of weird. I have to form a strong emotional bond with a human in order to use them. The human I bond with benefits too. Basically, we kind of fuse together._

"_How do I know this? Shut up Draco, I know you were thinking that. I know because there has been at least two other creatures like me, but they were a penguin and a snake. The snake, as you might guess, is Voldemort and his familiar." _Raito explained, pausing to see how Draco was taking it. When he saw no emotion on the Slytherin's face, he sighed and continued.

"_The only reason you can hear my voice is because we are bonding. Throughout the bond, I kind of…hmm…I guess the word is evolve. I grow bigger, stronger, scarier, and faster. Like I mentioned earlier, you benefit from my powers, because we can fuse together and become really fucking strong and awesome. But we have to have complete trust I each other and I would have to fully grow. Luckily for me though, I don't grow normally!" _

Draco continued to stare at the beaming lion on his bed, trying to make sense of what the hell he was talking about.

"So, basically, we put a lot of trust in each other and you evolve, then we can fuse together and beat the shit out of and things. Pretty believable I suppose. So…what type of magic do you have? And what would we look like when we fuse?" The silver-eyed wizard asked, curious now.

Raito thought for a moment. _"I'm really not sure how we would look, but as for my powers, I use lightning. So your name for me was pretty accurate!" _The black cub showed his teeth to Draco, leaving him to guess it was a smile.

"Earlier you said that Harry and I look cute together. Are you actually planning to get us together?" The Slytherin questioned, feeling strangely hopeful. The golden glow he hadn't noticed before shone lightly around Raito and him, making him feel a spark inside his chest.

"_Ah-hah! That's the sign that our bond is getting stronger already! Whenever there's that golden glow, it means that we put our trust in one another. It's shone three times so far, including this one! Maybe I'll evolve sooner than I thought…anyway, yes, I am planning to get you and Harry together. Did you see the chemistry you two had during your talk? It was so cute how you were worried about him!"_

Draco's mind was whirling with information, and he decided to save the rest of the conversation for tomorrow when they had some free time. Standing up and stripping himself down to his boxers, he climbed into bed and felt Raito lay down next to his head. The last thing he heard before he fell asleep was his familiar say:

"_Y'know, if you did that strip thing for Harry, I think you would have gotten lucky."_

_DM~HPxDM~HPxDM~HPxDM~HP_

It just wasn't fair that they had History of Magic for two days in a row. Even though he had slept wonderfully and actually woke up on time, Draco was cranky and ready to just bash his fucking head on the wall. He had left Raito behind because the cub was exhausted for reasons he didn't know, but suspected it had to do with the bond. The only good thing about this class was that they shared it with the Gryffindors' today, so Draco could see Potter again.

Arriving at the classroom, he once again sat in the back, waiting for the Gryffindors' to arrive. He didn't have to wait long, for they all swept in at the last minute. He was faintly surprised when Potter sat next to him and not Granger and Weasel. The Slytherin could tell by the look on their faces that they didn't expect it either.

As Binn started the lesson, Weasley fell asleep quickly and Granger was busy taking notes. Draco noticed that Potter looked somewhat tense, so he rested his head on his hand and asked in a quiet voice, "Hey Potter, why are you so tense? Did you have another detention with Umbridge?"

The green-eyed teen turned his head to look at Draco and shook his head, his body relaxing and stretching out on the table.

"I was just worried you would forget or ignore everything that happened yesterday…That you would change your mind about this…" Potter made a strange gesture, pointing his finger at Draco then pointing at himself. The silver-eyed wizard couldn't help but chuckle.

"Pot- Harry, I'm not going to change my mind between this transition from enemies to friends. I actually kind of enjoyed talking to you yesterday." Draco reassured the younger teen, giving him a small smile. Harry looked surprised at the use of his first name, and then smiled back at Draco.

"Hey Draco," Harry started hesitantly. "Hermione, Ron and I are starting a secret Defense Against the Dark Arts club, because Umbridge clearly isn't doing shit for our education. Do you want to join? I'm sure you would be great."

The Slytherin's eyes widened, but quickly regained his composure and nodded. Harry gave him another smile, and he returned it, unaware of the eyes watching him.

_DM~HPxDM~HPxDM~HPxDM~HP_

It was an overcast day, but that didn't bother any of the students. The first Quidditch match of the year was Slytherin vs. Ravenclaw, and Draco was determined to catch the snitch before Chang. He resided high in the air, keeping an eye out for a speck of gold. He briefly let his attention drift, grinning at the sight of the scoreboard, Slytherin: 50; Ravenclaw: 10. The Keeper was doing a fantastic job blocking the hoops, their Chasers were tearing through Ravenclaw's defense, and the Beaters were bloody brilliant.

Draco just hoped that this luck would stay with them until they played Gryffindor; he was tired of losing to them. However, it would be odd to play against Harry without hating him. If he lost, Draco wondered how he would react.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he focused his attention back to his job: catching the snitch. They had been out there for at least half an hour, and it was getting colder. Finally though, Draco spotted a golden glint and tore after it, knowing Chang had seen it too. He lowered his body until it was almost parallel to his Nimbus 2001, and dived down towards the snitch, reaching a hand out.

Unfortunately, the snitch turned just as Draco's hand closed, escaping his grasp. The blond growled and resumed the chase, Chang was right beside him. The snitch led them right over the Gryffindor stands, and Draco had a slight moment of fear.

If he didn't catch the snitch here, the Gryffindors' would surely make fun of him for weeks, maybe even months. Suddenly, the blond felt a rush of animalistic instincts. His eyes turned cat-like and he leaned forward, catching the snitch between his teeth like it was a fat, delicious bird.

The instincts were gone as soon as they arrived, and Draco's eyes went back to normal. Slightly disgusted and confused, he pulled the snitch out of his mouth and held it up, signaling Slytherin's victory of the first Quidditch match. The serpent house made noise loud enough for all three houses, as Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor groaned in disappointment.

While heading back to the locker room, Draco felt someone grab his wrist. Turning around, he saw it was Harry, smiling at him. But the emerald eyes showed him that the Gryffindor was confused and just a little bit terrified. Harry's words told him why.

"Nice match, Draco. Can't wait to go against you. But…um…what was that, you know, with the snitch? Why'd you catch it with your mouth?"

Draco sighed and scratched the back of his head, messing up his blond locks. "I'm really not sure. I was about to reach my hard out, but I felt like catching it with my mouth instead. It was weird…I just really hope it was a one-time thing, the snitches leave a rusty taste in your mouth!" The Malfoy heir laughed slightly, making Harry smile.

Congratulating Draco once more, the Boy-Who-Lived walked back into the castle, and the blond couldn't help but ogle Harry's arse. Mentally slapping himself, Draco headed towards the locker room, ready to take a shower and fall asleep.

A/N: That's chapter 4! I'll type a little every time I have free time, but I'm not promising everything.

Next chapter: Draco finds Raito looking a bit different, and his crush on Harry gets bigger. Hogsmeade and Dumbledore's Army is included, too.

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	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure you already know that I don't own Harry Potter. I only own Raito.

Draco yawned as he walked to his room, knowing that Blaise was staying in Daphne's room again.

'_He might as well live in there…'_ Draco thought, snickering. He reached his room and opened the door, nearly screaming at what he saw.

A semi-large black lion with a few tufts of fur spiked up at the back of his head and a large, powerful looking body. The tail was long and swooshing back and forth on the bed. At the sound of Draco's almost scream, Raito lifted his head to reveal his golden eyes.

"_What's up, Dray? It looks like you just walked in on Dumbledore and Voldemort having sex…eww, why did I put that image in my head!?" _ Raito shivered, shifting over on the bed.

Draco sat down next to his now evolved familiar, and the black lion was about up to his hip. Dear Merlin, if Raito evolved like this, he would start to really have trouble keeping him a secret.

"Well, I just didn't expect you to evolve that fast. Did it happen overnight or something?" The blond asked, shifting to lie down on his back, reaching a hand over to pet his lion's dark, fluffy fur.

"_Hmm, well I guess my evolution happens whenever we put trust in each other. I'll continue to get bigger, at some point I believe you can also do telepathy, but only with me, I'll grow wings, but that's a long time from now, and…I don't know when, but we can fuse together when I'm almost fully grown. Then I can use my awesome lightning powers!"_ Raito's eyes gleamed in excitement, and his fur bristled.

Draco rolled his eyes and got up to change into his regular night clothes. Turning off the lights, he flopped down onto his bed, earning an annoyed growl from Raito.

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It was a snowy day on the Saturday that the students were walking to Hogsmeade. Draco wasn't bothered though, seeing as winter was his favorite season. The beautiful white landscape had always fascinated him as a child, and he had absolutely loved playing in the snow. Now that he was older though, Draco preferred taking walks in the snow to help clear his mind.

That wasn't helping this time though, because he was nervous and jittery, butterflies are fluttering in his stomach…the Slytherin really thought that this crush on Harry had grown into something more, and he had a feeling it would only grow stronger. As Draco reached the middle of Hogsmeade, he looked around for the place where Harry would possibly hold his meeting.

The Malfoy heir spotted two Hufflepuff girls heading into a dirty looking bar, and soon saw a Ravenclaw and three Gryffindor boys head inside too. Deciding to follow them, he walked into the bar and saw a room full of Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs, with Harry, Granger, and Weasley at the front.

Harry spotted him first and smiled, waving at him to come over and take a seat. Granger saw him too, and merely raised an eyebrow. Weasley on the other hand, had something to say when he saw Draco.

"Oi, ferret, what the bloody hell are you doing here!?" Many people turned in their seats to see him, and Draco saw that some looked nervous, while others looked angry.

"Come to report us to Umbridge, haven't you, Malfoy? Well, if you do, you are preventing us from getting an actual education! But wait, you would want that, won't you?" A blond Hufflepuff boy glared at him.

Draco scowled and was about to retort with a scathing comment, but Harry glared at the Hufflepuff and growled, "If you don't want him here, then the door is right there. I invited him here because I've been talking to him, and I've found him trustworthy. Draco is excellent at spells and theories, so he is going to be here and help us out whether you like it or not!"

Stunned silence accompanied Harry's angry speech, along with an increased heartbeat and even more fluttering butterflies on Draco's part. It honestly warmed his heart that Harry defended him.

Granger cleared her throat and began, "Well, anyway, we are here to teach you _actual_ Defense Against the Dark Arts, because we all know Umbridge isn't teaching us anything," a collection of nods followed her statement.

"Now, here I have a list of all the people who are going to sign up for the club, and we're going to need a name." The bushy-haired Gryffindor finished, staring at everyone.

A dreamy eyed Ravenclaw girl raised her hand and asked, "What charms will we learn? Do we get to learn how to do the Patronus Charm?"

Harry laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"We'll learn all sorts of spells, jinxes and hexes but I'm thinking we start off simple and easy. While we progress, we will get into more difficult spells, and maybe we can learn a Patronus Charm, but it does require a happy memory, so you better have something like that. Ron, Hermione, Draco, and I will all be teaching you, but we will do different things. As for what type of things, we'll figure that out before our first official meeting.

"Oh, and after you sign this scroll, you're bound to secrecy, so don't tell anyone who isn't going to join us about this, alright?" Harry finished, and everyone subtly looked at Draco when the last part was mentioned, causing the blond boy to scowl and walk forward, writing his name on the list.

After everyone had signed up and had sworn to secrecy, they dispersed from the bar and headed out to do their own thing. Draco was near the Shrieking Shack, sitting on a rock and just thinking. His life was going to change soon, and he knew it.

Raito and his magical powers, Harry and his enormous crush on him, his father getting more and more pressuring about him getting a Dark Mark…Draco sighed and put his head in his hands, just wishing the entire world went away for just a moment.

Hearing footsteps coming towards him, he looked up to see Harry, his beautiful green eyes filled with concern.

"Are you alright? Do you regret coming? I wasn't actually sure you would come…" The Boy-Who-Lived bit his lip and looked down; causing him to miss the soft smile Draco sent him.

The Slytherin sighed and shook his head, "No, I was just thinking about life and how it's hard like a bitch. If it were anything else it would be easy, but what's life without challenges, y'know? All I know is that I'm facing a few challenges right now, but I wish they were easy. Well, maybe Raito is easy."

Harry looked up and laughed, sitting next to Draco on the rock. He leaned his head back and rolled it, causing it to crack and make the blond wizard wince.

"Sorry, did that disgust you? It's how I always crack my neck." The Gryffindor smiled sheepishly while Draco just gave him an unamused face, but laughed a few seconds later.

Soon there was silence, besides the town buzzing with students' chatter. Draco heard Harry sigh, but didn't expect him to rest his wild black haired head on his shoulder.

The silver eyed teen tensed, but panicked when he also felt Harry tense and pulls his head up. He wrapped an arm around the Gryffindor's shoulders pulling him close and laying his head on top of Harry's.

Draco felt the younger teen relax again, and pulled him closer to his side, pressing a soft kiss on his forehead. No words were said; the two fifth years content with the comfortable silence and position, and neither wanted the moment to end.

A/N: Maybe a sort of abrupt ending, but at least there was fluff! OMG, there was a huge fight at my school today, and this girl got hospitalized! Like she was coughing up blood and getting the shit beat out of her…damn. Anyway, I'm really obsessed with a YouTube channel called Lush. Check them out and subscribe to them; they're aiming for 400,000 now! *shameless advertising*

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	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I only own Raito.

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The next morning, Draco was ecstatic all throughout his classes. He couldn't stop smiling, and he had gotten many terrified looks from his professors, fellow students, and even the paintings. Draco tried to tell himself that it wasn't that big of a deal; Harry had only laid his head on his shoulder, but the Slytherin just couldn't get rid of that damn smile. Raito had had a field day when Draco told him what had occurred after the Hogsmeade meeting.

He had gotten a note from Harry during breakfast, saying that he, Weasley, and Granger would be waiting in a room on the seventh floor called the Room of Requirements after lunch.

After practically wolfing down his food (elegantly, of course. He could never be sloppy, since he _was _a Malfoy), Draco found himself running up the stairs to get to the Room of Requirement. He had apparently arrived right on time, as he saw the Golden Trio standing in front of a wall. Walking up to them, Draco cleared his throat and said, "Hello Harry, Granger, and Weasley." He nodded to them as he said their names.

Harry turned around quickly at the sound of the blond Slytherin's voice and smiled. "Hello, Draco. I hope this meeting doesn't inconvenience your studying or anything…"

"No, no, it's fine. Blaise practically lives in Daphne's room, so I have the room all to myself, and the silence helps me do my homework faster. Also means I get bored easily." Draco waved Harry's concern off, smiling. Granger gave him a nod and a welcome, while Weasley just glared.

Harry sighed irritably at Ron, but turned around and thought, '_I need a place where we can have a meeting…'_ three times, pacing back and forth. After a few seconds, a large door materialized, and all four of them went inside.

In the Room of Requirement there were two black couches, just large enough for two people. In between the couches was a table, and a few bookshelves as well. Weasley and Granger sat down on the couch, leaving the other one open for Draco and Harry. Sitting down and grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill that the room supplied them with, Harry wrote down each of their names, then passed the paper to Hermione.

"Alright, so I decided that we would each take different groups and teach them different things. Even though that will be later, it would be better if we got this organized sooner. We can teach them healing spells, general spells, magical theory, hexes, jinxes, and maybe, the Patronus Charm. Actually, I think Harry should teach that to all of us. Who knows when we'll run into Dementors…

"Anyway, we'll each pick a subject to teach the other students, and maybe we can get some new leaders if we see a student who has progressed far enough to teach it to the others," Granger stated, looking at the three boys who surrounded her.

"Malfoy, what subject do you want to teach?" She asked, positioning her quill under Draco's name.

The Slytherin thought for a moment. He was great at healing spells, and he was excellent at spells and hexes, considering he had started training with a wand at a young age, he knew about magical theory…

"I think I'll take on the spells, both dueling and healing. I actually want to become a healer when I graduate, so I know a lot of spells like that." Draco answered, leaning back and resting his head on the top of the couch.

Granger nodded and wrote down '_Spells'_ for Draco. For herself, she wrote _'Magical Theory' _and _'Simple Charms'. _Weasley ended up teaching Jinxes and Hexes, while Harry got Minor Curses and Protection Spells.

After writing down the subjects, Hermione and Ron got up to leave, and Harry waved them off, as he wanted to stay and talk with Draco a bit more. They both gave him looks, Hermione, smug and knowing; Ron, confused and weirded out.

When the door closed behind them, Harry let out a huge sigh and turns sideways so his head was lying on Draco's lap. Draco's heart started pounding, and he was sure the green eyed boy could hear it.

"I'm not really looking forward to our next Quidditch match against Hufflepuff." Harry started, his brows furrowed and eyes staring straight at the ceiling. Draco decided to stay silent until the younger teen was done ranting.

"I just know Umbridge is going to do something. She didn't want the Gryffindor team to play this year, and she has been giving us more trouble than any other house! But with this club, I feel like we're getting revenge on her behind her back, you know? Oh, and is it really that easy to get your homework done and have silence in your room with your lion in there?" Harry teased, and for a minute, Draco thought he was talking about himself, until he remembered that Raito existed.

The blond wizard chuckled and ran a hand through Harry's messy black locks.

"I do get my homework done, but it's actually when I'm getting ready to go to bed, because I kind of put it off now that I have a fat cat to feed. He's still trying to figure out hunting. And no, it's not actually silent; Raito's always being loud and distracting me." He answered truthfully, but he really did enjoy the strange animal's company. Raito really had grown on him.

Harry smiled and closed his eyes, basking in the comfortable silence, just like the other day at Hogsmeade. A few minutes later, the Gryffindor broke the silence.

"Hey, Draco…? How do you tell someone you like them?"

Draco's eyes flew wide open, and felt his heart skip a few beats. Hoping that Harry didn't notice his hesitation, he cleared his throat and answered, "Well, I don't have much experience or things to go off of, since Slytherins aren't really ones for romance. But I think you just kind of look for little signs that they like you back. If you really think they like you back, you should tell them. If you think they don't like you, then don't tell them and try to move on, I guess…"

Harry nodded and Draco saw the nervous look in his green eyes. The Gryffindor suddenly blushed and said, "Well then, I…I like you Draco. You're much nicer this year, and for some reason, I trust you more than Ron and Hermione, because I kind of feel that you understand me, and I guess I started to feel some attraction towards you…and…yeah." He finished lamely, his face as red as Weasley's hair.

Draco was sure his face was just as red. He smiled at Harry and responded in a soft voice, "I like you too, Harry. You and Raito are my first true friends, the ones who I can tell my secrets and who I can trust…so, will you go out with me?"

The raven-haired boy's smile was blinding, and he shouted, "Yes!" and trapped Draco in a bear hug, surprising the blond and making him laugh and hug the younger teen back.

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The Hufflepuff-Gryffindor Quidditch match was on a windy, overcast day. The score was currently 60-Hufflepuff, 70-Gryffindor. Sitting in the Slytherin stands, Draco watched his new boyfriend as he looked for the snitch. He heard the Hufflepuffs cheering, meaning they got another score and the game was now tied. He held his breath as Harry suddenly raced towards the Ravenclaw stands where he had spotted the snitch, Hufflepuff's seeker right behind him.

It was pointless though. In a matter of seconds, Harry had the golden ball in his hand and had claimed Gryffindor's victory. Internally cheering for Harry's success, Draco left the pitch with the rest of his housemates, but snuck away to head towards the Gryffindor team.

However, it seemed that a bludger had gotten free from the box and was flying randomly, going after people. It was about to hit Granger, but Harry pulled out his wand and fired a spell which Draco thought to be Reducto. The bludger was destroyed, but now they had Umbridge to deal with.

Draco was too far away to hear some of the conversation, but he definitely heard Harry and the Weasley twins yelling, "This isn't fair!" and, "You can't do that! It was going to hit her!"

As he got closer, Draco heard Umbridge repeat that the lifetime bans from Quidditch stand, and the Slytherin was instantly outraged.

"Professor, you can't do that!" Many heads turned towards him, and all their faces showed various degrees of shock. The most priceless was Umbridge, though.

Despite all the attention, Draco carried on with his protest.

"If you give Potter and the Weasley twins a lifetime ban, their team will be losing veteran players! And I know you saw that the bludger was about to hit G- Hermione! You can't give someone a ban for saving their friend's life!" He ended, panting from all the yelling.

It was a few minutes until anyone spoke; all of them were speechless that _Draco Malfoy_ of all people had defended the Gryffindor team.

Umbridge finally found her voice and said in a sickly sweet tone, "I'm sorry Mr. Malfoy, but would you like a lifetime ban as well? As Hogwarts High Inquisitor, I can do whatever I want. But it would be a shame if your father heard about you being banned from Quidditch. I bet he'd be very disappointed, and you don't want your father being ashamed of you, do you?"

Draco could hear the threatening hint in her voice, and it made his blood boil. "I don't care," he spat venomously. "Just know that you'll end up regretting this ban of yours sooner or later, you _bitch."_

The silver eyed wizard was actually starting to panic. He felt that same rush of wild animal instincts and had to fight the urge to just rip Umbridge's throat out. He quickly walked away, heading back to the castle, away from the seething pink toad and the gaping Gryffindors.

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A few hours later found Draco sitting at a windowsill, staring out at the Black Lake. Footsteps sounded in the hall, and they seemed to be heading towards his direction.

When they stopped, Draco looked up to find Harry, and the Gryffindor looked both angry and confused. Draco shook his head, telling his boyfriend not to ask right now, that he was still trying to get rid of his lingering wild rage.

Harry nodded, getting the message. He climbed onto the windowsill and sat on Draco's lap, wrapping his thin arms around the pale neck, offering the blond silent comfort. Draco smiled and hugged Harry closer to him, arms closing around the slim waist.

Not knowing what caused him to do it, he kissed the younger teen, and _oh,_ it felt absolutely perfect in every single way. Their lips fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, and Draco could swear that he heard fireworks go off in his chest. He pulled away and opened his eyes, pressing his forehead against Harry's.

The Gryffindor's radiant green eyes opened, and Draco smiled, leaning back against the wall. Even though he had been banned from Quidditch and should probably expect a Howler from his father any day now, he had Harry in his arms right now, and that alone could get him the motivation to face all his problems.

Suddenly thinking of something, Draco leaned down and grinned, whispering into Harry's ear, "Raito is going to flip a shit when I tell him about this."

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A/N: So I had an early out today, so I decided to write another chapter in order to avoid my homework. And I honestly can't believe how well this story is going. I thought it was going to suck and that it would get no attention. Thank you all for following, favoriting, and reviewing! It all means a lot to me.

Next chapter (since I forgot it in the last chapter): First meeting of the DA, Draco gets a Howler, and yes, Raito flips a shit. This chapter might be short though. IDK I'M TIRED GOODNIGHT

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	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks to LittleYepa for pointing out that typo in the last chapter. I guess that's what happens when you type fast and don't have a beta to correct your mistakes…bleh.

Disclaimer: Me no own Harry Potter.

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After cuddling for a little while, Harry and Draco had returned to their own dorms, agreeing to tell their friends of their relationship. Draco had a feeling that Raito would be angry that he didn't tell him, but he couldn't get himself to care.

Finally reaching his room, Draco saw the lazy lion lying on the bed, fast asleep and snoring softly. He blanched, knowing that if he woke Raito up now, he might as well be signing his death wish. But if he told him in the morning, he would still be signing his death wish. It was a lose-lose situation.

Deciding to get his death over with, Draco placed his hands over Raito's stomach and shook him back and forth gently. The blond flinched violently went the black lion let out a snort, but relaxed when he remained asleep. Sighing, he stripped down to his boxers, black with emerald green stripes, and covered himself with the blankets.

Trying once more to wake his lazy familiar, Draco shoved him hard. Golden eyes snapped open and a threatening voice resounded in his head, _"Why in the name of Merlin did you wake me up? If you don't give me a good reason, I am going to kill you."_

"Oh, don't worry, this is a very good reason," Draco stated, no longer afraid for his life. "And I know how much you love your sleep. Merlin knows I need as much of it as you do."

"_Draco, get to the fucking point."_

"Right. Anyway, Harry and I have been dating for a few days, and we had our first kiss today. I knew you would be angry at me for not telling you, so I decided to tell you know instead of tomorrow."

Raito's whole demeanor changed from angry and looking ready to kill, to ecstatic and about to shit rainbows.

"_Really? Really and truly? Oh Merlin, this is awesome! When's the wedding? And who's getting pregnant? Oh, who's top and who's bottom? Wait, have you gone on a date yet? No, the wedding's more important. Can I plan it, please!?" _Raito rambled, bouncing all over the room.

Draco had an irritated look on his face now. Reaching up to massage his forehead, he answered, "We aren't having a wedding anytime soon, we just started going out. Not going to even answer those two, he haven't been on a date yet, unless you count what happened in Hogsmeade, and no, you can't plan the wedding if it does happen."

"_If? What do you mean 'if'? You kissed Harry, which means you _have _to marry him eventually. I know that's not how it is in the Wizarding World, but you're bonded with a magical creature, and that's how it is with us. Now there's no going back! So I do get to plan your wedding!" _Raito smirked, feeling triumphant and Draco's stunned face.

"That would have been nice to know earlier! Why didn't you tell me that I have to marry the first person I kiss? Well, not like it's a bad thing now…" Draco said, glaring at Raito.

_Why didn't you tell me that you and Harry were dating? Maybe if you had told me sooner, I would have mentioned it. But what's done is done." _ The lion retorted.

A golden glow suddenly encased their bodies, erasing their negative mood. Silver and golden eyes met.

"Why did the bond grow stronger?" Draco asked, no longer annoyed and angry. "We were just shouting at each other."

Raito shrugged, stretching out his body. "Maybe because you told me about your relationship? That's a sign of trust. Well, whatever, I'm going back to sleep."

He jumped up onto the soft bed and settled down on the edge, falling asleep immediately. Sighing, Draco lay back down and closed his eyes, slipping off into dreamland.

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The next morning was fairly simple. Wake up, take a shower, and wake Raito up. Then comb his silky, blond hair, put on his robe, organize his bag and head down to breakfast. Draco had assigned a house elf to wait on Raito, since house elves could somehow understand his growling.

Reaching the Great Hall, Draco headed toward the Slytherin table and sat in his usual spot, in the center, facing the Gryffindor table. He nodded to Pansy, Theo, Blaise, Daphne, Greg, and Vincent, then started filling his plate up with food.

The mail owls flew in through the window, and Draco noticed his eagle owl right away. However, a bright red envelope was grasped in its talons. The blond paled, his skin going practically white. It seemed that most of the Slytherin table had noticed, and they all fell quiet. Soon, the rest of the tables noticed, and the entire Hall fell silent.

When his eagle owl, Aurio, landed in front of Draco and gave him the Howler, he was inwardly crying his eyes out and saying goodbye to his pride and dignity. Without waiting for him to open it, the Howler tore itself open and the furious voice of Lucius Malfoy resounded in the Great Hall.

"_**DRACO ABRAXUS MALFOY! HOW DARE YOU SHAME THE MALFOY NAME! GETTING BANNED FROM QUIDDITCH AND FRATERNIZING WITH GRYFFINDORS! YOUR MOTHER AND I ARE FURIOUS WITH YOUR BEHAVIOUR, AND IF YOU CROSS ONE MORE LINE, YOU ARE GOING TO BE OFFICIALLY DISOWNED! WE WILL NOT HAVE A DELINQUENT IN THIS FAMILY!"**_

The Howler ripped itself up and there was silence once more, but instead of the curious atmosphere, it was more of a shocked one. Draco stood up and quickly walked out of the Hall, knowing that Umbridge's smug smirk was directed at him. But who could have known that he was acquainted with Gryffindors? Once he was out of view from the Great Hall, he bolted to his room, not wanting to attend classes.

Slamming his door open, Draco didn't even bother taking off his uniform, he just threw himself on his bed and fell asleep, Raito understanding what had happened from the blond's actions. The black feline settled down next to Draco, keeping him company in sleep.

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Draco walked to the Room of Requirement after dinner, which he didn't attend. He had stayed in his room with Raito all day, the house elves feeding both of them. Harry's owl, Hedwig, had dropped off a letter for him, and it had said:

_Draco,_

_We are having the first meeting of our DADA club right after dinner. You don't have to show if you don't want to, since the incident this morning…but I'd really appreciate if you could still come. Oh, and I told Ron and Hermione about us. You'll know how they took it if you come tonight._

_-Harry_

Draco had shaken his head, wondering why Harry had put his name when Umbridge was more than likely monitoring the both of them extremely closely.

But now he was outside the door, and it was already visible, so he went right in. Draco saw Harry, Hermione, and Weasley in the front, and all the students off to the side. Heads turned when he entered, and then the whispering began. Hermione was looking at him with a small smile, and Weasley…well, he was more than likely to melt the Slytherin's head with his blue eyes.

Harry beamed at him and waved him over, calling out, "Draco! Just on time! Come on, we're informing them about the jobs and subjects."

Draco returned the smile and walked over to them. He heard Hermione explaining the whole categorizing arrangement: Draco was teaching spells, both healing and dueling; she was teaching magical theory and charms; Ron was teaching hexes and jinxes; and Harry was teaching minor curses and protection spells.

"For now, though, we will all be working together. We will be working on very simple spells like Expelliarmus and Petrificus Totalus at first, and then we will split you up. Come on now, form a line and cast an Expelliarmus at Ron." Hermione finished, earning a betrayed expression from the red head beside her.

It was soon pretty clear that not everyone had the Disarming Charm down perfectly. And poor Weasley was looking slightly terrified from all the terrible charms hurtling his way. Hermione had told them to stop and split up into three groups, then go to either Harry, her, or Draco so they could teach them how to properly cast Expelliarmus.

Draco had gotten a handful of little first to fourth years, and all of them were progressing nicely. He showed them the way to hold the wand, the wand motion, and how to say it correctly. Surprisingly, his group had perfected it the quickest.

About half an hour later, everyone had gotten down the charm perfectly. And Weasley was looking better too. The Hufflepuffs left first, followed by the Ravenclaws, and lastly the Gryffindors. Finally, it was just Hermione, Weasley, Harry, and Draco in the room.

"Ron, Hermione, you guys can go back to the Common Room without me. I want to spend some time with Draco." Harry asked, grinning sheepishly.

Hermione smiled fondly and replied, "Alright, but don't do anything that's inappropriate for our age." She walked out of the room, dragging Weasley with her.

Harry shook his head then tackled Draco, wrapping his arms around the taller boy's neck. Draco smiled and hugged his boyfriend back, sighing quietly.

"Are you alright, Dray? I missed you today…I mean, I know you were avoiding everyone because of the Howler, but I still missed you…" The Gryffindor rambled, blushing because he must have sounded so clingy. But Draco just smiled and replied, "I missed you too. Raito kept me company though, and we were pretty much talking all about you."

Smiling, Harry closed his eyes and asked the room for a bed so they could sleep. Teaching all those students such a simple charm had been much more exhausting than he thought. Leading Draco over to the bed, he took off his shirt and stretched his arm. Draco looked at his boyfriend appreciatively before removing his shirt and trousers.

Climbing into the large green bed and wrapping his arms around Harry's waist, he closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to come. He could already feel the green eyed boy's even breathing, and after listening to the peaceful sound for a while, Draco fell asleep, not noticing the same eyes that had watched them in History of Magic peering at them from behind the door.

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**A/N: Ughhh I'm tired and I haven't even done anything all day. Sorry if this chapter kind of sucks, I've been kind of out of it lately. Or I've been spending too much time on Tumblr.**

**Next time: Christmas at Grimmauld Place (and everyone meets Raito), Harry has nightmares in Gryffindor Tower, and Draco is hospitalized.**

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	8. Chapter 8 Part 1

A/N: I swear, school is the only reason this chapter took longer. As well as watching Free! and Mekaku City Actors. And figuring out how this chapter would fit in. Anyway, here's chapter 8.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

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Draco was nervous. Actually, he beyond nervous. Harry had invited him to spend the Christmas holidays with him and his godfather, Sirius Black. Draco wasn't surprised that Black was Harry's godfather, since Severus had told him. However, it wasn't Sirius Black that worried him, even though it probably should have been. No, what was worrying him was taking Raito with him. It's not like he could just go, "Hey everyone, this is my pet lion, Raito. He has magical powers, and we can transform into a human-lion hybrid thing soon!" Draco was pretty fucking sure that would go over terribly.

Besides, the only people that knew about Raito were Harry and Severus, and neither seemed like they would tell anyone a secret that huge. Draco cast a Tempus spell and saw it was 8 in the morning, and he had better get going if he planned to make it to breakfast and the train station in time.

"Raito! Come on, we're heading down to breakfast!" Draco called, grabbing his bags. _'It would be nice to get this coming out disaster over with as well…' _The Slytherin added internally.

"_Yeah, yeah, I'm coming! Just let me finish grooming! Or do you want me to look terrible in front of the whole school!?" _Raito retorted, beforeswaggering out of the bathroom, his small paws doing some sort of awkward seductive movements on the silver carpet. Draco's eyebrow rose.

"What the fuck are you doing." Anyone could tell from the blond's voice that he was so tired of Raito's shit.

"_I'm being a seductive animal right now. Why, is my sexiness working?"_

"Shut up, you're like…I don't know, 3? How old are you?"

Raito huffed in annoyance, avoiding the question, and started walking towards the door. _"As much as I love having intelligent conversations with you, I think it's best if we head on to breakfast. You do want to get this revelation over with, right?"_

Draco shook his head and sighed, following his familiar out the door, bracing himself for the ultimate challenge.

When the boys entered the Great Hall, all the houses stopped talking slowly, and were staring at Raito, who showed them his somewhat sharp teeth, and supposedly grinned at them.

"Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore frowned, standing up. "Why is there a lion with you? If I recall correctly, only cats, owls, and toads are allowed here. I'm afraid you'll have to let him go, otherwise he might hurt a student."

Draco could hear Raito growling next to him, and was pretty sure the Headmaster could hear it too. But before he could defend Raito, Severus stood up, with a disdainful look on his face.

"Headmaster, I knew Mr. Malfoy had that lion here, and let me tell you he is completely domestic, and won't harm anyone unless extremely provoked." The Potions professor glared at everyone at the staff table, daring them to challenge him.

"_Hah, 'extremely provoked?' Yeah right. I can do anything I want, anytime, anywhere! I don't need no man!" _Raito puffed his chest out indignantly. Draco rolled his eyes and sighed.

Dumbledore studied Snape's face, then looked over to Draco and Raito, the latter giving him a way too innocent look, and the former just looking at the lion with something akin to embarrassment and disappointment. The old wizard sighed and looked back at Snape.

"Very well. Mr. Malfoy can keep his pet, but if it attacks a fellow student, then he will be responsible. Agreed, Severus?"

The Head of Slytherin nodded, and signaled for Draco to go sit down and eat. Draco nodded at his godfather, and then locked eyes with Harry, whose face showed concern and a hint of anger. The blond subtly smiled at his boyfriend, and shook his head.

They would talk on the train.

* * *

Draco hadn't wanted anyone to bother Raito and him, so he made his way to the back of the train to reserve a compartment for him and Harry, and maybe the Gryffindor's friends as well. Hermione and he had started talking, and they got along well enough. Weasley was another story, though.

While they didn't fight nearly as much, they still glared and threatened each other, but Hermione or Harry would berate them. Draco had also found he got along with Finnegan, Thomas, and surprisingly Longbottom. The blond had been somewhat stunned to hear from Harry that Neville occasionally cried out Blaise's name during the night.

That revelation had been a few days after Blaise admitted to him that his nights with Daphne were becoming boring, and if Draco could introduce him to that cute Gryffindor named Longbottom. Raito had shaken with silent laughter, and Draco knew he was planning to get those two together.

The Slytherin was brought out of his thoughts and memories when the compartment door slid open, revealing Harry, Hermione, Weasley, and Longbottom. Raito lifted his head up from its position on Draco's lap and waved his tail at the Gryffindors.

Harry smiled at Draco and sat down next to him, leaning on his side. Hermione and the other boys sat down opposite of them, and they watched Raito warily.

"_Jeez, by the way those three are looking at me, you'd think they expected me to jump up and eat them. As if! I'm too small for such a big meal…but maybe when I'm bigger…"_

"You'll do no such thing, Rai!

That outburst earned Draco strange looks from Hermione, Weasley, and Longbottom, but it seemed that Harry was used to it. Draco glared at Raito and growled, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist and resting his chin on top of the messy raven locks. All Harry could do was laugh quietly at their antincs.

They finally made it to King's Cross after a few hours. The conversation between Draco and the other Gryffindors had been awkward, but no insults had been said. There were still a few glares between him and Weasley, however.

Now Draco had Raito in his arms and Harry was looking around for Remus, who was supposed to bring them to Grimmauld Place.

The silver eyed wizard closed his eyes and leaned against the pillar, waiting for Harry to return with their old Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Several people who passed him gave him mystified look when they saw Raito in his arms, probably mistaking him for an overgrown cat with scary eyes.

"Draco! Come on, we're heading towards the Floo! Sirius will be there to greet us!" Harry called out to him, grabbing the pale hand of his boyfriend and pulling him towards Remus and the Floo Station. Draco greeted Remus, shaking his hand and then turned back to Harry.

"Alright, Sirius should be waiting for us at Grimmauld. Draco, here's the paper you use for gaining access to it." Remus handed Draco the paper and signaling for the two fifth years to go first. He and Harry stepped into the fireplace and Draco quickly rearranged Raito's position.

"Number 12, Grimmauld Place!" Harry shouted, and the three of them were whisked away in a swirl of fire.

Harry stumbled out of the Floo, and tripped over his feet, but Draco was ready to catch him, and the two ended up in almost a ballroom dance position, with Draco dipping Harry.

Raito was sitting on the carpet and had a grin on his face, as well as the golden glow surrounding his small body. Draco noticed the glow engulfing both he and Harry too, but the moment was interrupted when the Floo roared up again; Remus stepped out of the fireplace and paused when he saw the scene in front of him.

"Hello Remus! Harry! Blond kid! Black cat! Oh, am I interrupting something?" Sirius appeared out of nowhere, with a huge grin on his face. However, he backtracked and asked in a confused voice, "Wait, blond kid and black cat? Harry, Remus, you didn't tell me we were having guests!"

Draco was looking at his boyfriend with an unamused face, while the Gryffindor blushed and said, "Well, uhh…you see…Sirius, this is my boyfriend and his familiar, Draco Malfoy and Raito."

* * *

A/N: **AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH** I'm so sorry this took so long I've been so distracted I started this chapter on the 11th and now 7 days later I have to make it a half chapter ughhh. I'm really sorry guys, but times are kind of crazy right now, with school, me moving to LA, and internet…anyway, I'll get chapter 8 part 2 written and published soon!

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	9. Chapter 8 Part 2

A/N: I wanted to get this chapter out before I leave for Utah, which is today, so I'm writing this chapter in one day. And for anyone worrying about the ending of this fanfic to be like the ending of OotP, no, I'm not going to kill Sirius! It says so on my profile. Anyway, I'll be gone for 4 days, so yeah, bear with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I only own Raito (the little shit).

* * *

Harry was nervously waiting for Sirius's reaction, and just hoped that Remus could calm him down if the man attacked. The Boy-Who-Lived heard his godfather inhale, then say:

"So…Draco is my cousin, and he's dating you…but you and Draco are also very distant cousins…and then Tonks is his cousin as well…he's practically already family. But for the cat, I don't like him." Sirius scowled at Raito childishly, making the magical animal hiss. But then Sirius looked at Draco again, and seemed to say without actually talking, _'I will speak with you later'._

"_That stupid overgrown mutt! Who does he think he is!? I'm no cat, I am a fierce, savage, brave, vicious, dangerous lion! And who couldn't like me? I'm lovable, dammit!" _Raito raged to Draco, completely ignoring Sirius's acceptance of the blond.

With Harry and Remus shocked about the fact that Sirius had taken to Draco so quickly and without a fight or interrogation, and Raito practically radiating rage, the fifth-year Slytherin sighed and said, "Thank you, I guess. Oh, and that isn't a cat, that's a lion. He's still dangerous though, so I advise you don't anger him on purpose. He gets really annoying, and I have to deal with it." Draco could see Raito giving him a look of betrayal, but he just smiled innocently.

Sirius and Remus gave a bark of laughter, and Harry walked over to Draco and hid his face in the blond's chest, trying to contain his laughter. At that point, Raito just gave up trying to defend himself. He pouted at the four humans and dragged himself over to the corner of the room and began to sulk.

* * *

After begging and promising that they wouldn't do anything except cuddle, Harry and Draco were allowed to sleep in the same room. Raito was sleeping downstairs in case anyone tried to get in, no matter how unlikely that was, Remus was down the hall, and Sirius was right across from him.

Draco walked out of the bathroom dressed in silk black boxers and an emerald t-shirt. Harry looked over at him and smiled, he was wearing red boxers with little golden snitches all around, and a black undershirt. The blond returned the smile and climbed into the large bed, lying on his side. He felt the bet dip a bit more under Harry's weight, and then felt thin arms wrap around his shoulders.

The blond smiled and encircled his arms around this boyfriend's lithe waist, bringing them closer. He let out a small sigh of content and kissed Harry on the forehead before letting sleep claim him.

DM~HPxDM~HPxDM~HPxDM~HP

Draco jolted awake when he heard a loud cry of terror from the boy next to him. He turned around in the bed, and grabbed Harry by the shoulders and shook him, trying to wake him up from his nightmare.

"Harry! Harry! Wake up! Come on, Harry, you have to wake up!" Draco said in a low tone, not wanting to wake Sirius and Remus up, but at the same time wanting them to help. However, it seemed that he didn't need their help, as Harry's eyes flew open and he was breathing hard.

A terrified look was haunting those emerald eyes, and Harry was trembling. Draco's heart broke seeing his beloved like this. He cautiously placed his hand on Harry's shoulder, but removed it when the younger teen flinched. But then Harry moved his head to face Draco, and launched himself into his arms, crying into the blond's chest.

Rubbing Harry's back and whispering sweet and comforting words into his ear, Draco tried to calm his poor boyfriend down, but he knew he was getting nowhere. Lucius and Narcissa had never really shown him affection or anything of the sort while he was growing up, only giving him an extremely rare forced smile, so he was absolutely clueless when it came to handling emotional problems.

Draco nearly screamed his lungs out and had a fucking heart attack when Raito seemed to appear out of nowhere, the golden eyes glowing brightly (and somewhat scarily) in the dark room. His grasp on Harry tightened, but apparently that was a good thing, since he could feel the green-eyed wizard's trembling subside slightly.

Raito placed his paw on Draco's shoulder and gently pushed him so he was lying on the bed again, Harry still in his arms. The small lion then clambered on top of both of them, and lie down. He started glowing; the magic inside his body sending out soothing vibes for the two wizards.

Soon, Harry and Draco's body gave off the same glow, their magic accepting Raito's, as well as the bond deepening. And at that point, Harry had stopped trembling and was now asleep in Draco's arms, and Draco was right behind him.

Raito smiled at the Slytherin and the Gryffindor; all was going well.

* * *

"Ooh, Draco, look at that! Don't you think it would be a good present for both Sirius and Remus?" Harry exclaimed as he pointed out a pair of stuffed dogs, one black, and one brown. Draco smiled and nodded, knowing Sirius would get a kick out of it.

Harry had woken up bright and cheery that morning, completely unaware of his nightmares. Draco hoped he didn't remember them, for the younger wizard had seemed truly terrified at whatever his mind had shown him in his subconscious.

They were shopping for Christmas presents in Muggle London now, and were debating on what to get Remus and Sirius. The stuffed dogs were a good option, but seemed a tad too childish. Well, for Remus, anyway. Sirius was just like a 9-year old in a grown man's body.

Harry and Draco had also agreed to get Raito a present; the young lion (who had grown again during the night, and was now up to Harry's hip ) had been a great help in their relationship, making awkward moments become ones where they couldn't even stand up because they were laughing too hard, or when they got into fights, where Raito would growl and hiss at them if they didn't apologize, and even bite them lightly if they were being super stubborn.

"Hey Draco, are you even listening?" Harry asked, snapping his fingers in front of his face. Draco shook his head and realized he had been too caught up in his thoughts. Giving his boyfriend an apologetic smile, he said, "Sorry, I was lost in Wonderland. What were you saying?"

The raven-haired teen rolled his eyes and repeated what he had said.

"I think we should get Remus something like…a photo album, maybe. He has a lot of photos of my dad, Sirius, and he when they were younger, and I think he'd appreciate it. For Sirius, let's just get him that stuffed dog, and for Raito…well, I'll let you decide on that one. Actually, I saw something Raito might like over there in that shop across the street; do you want to go check it out?"

Draco nodded and let Harry lead them to the crosswalk. He had been to the muggle world a few times when he was younger, and had learned about the way they lived, so he wasn't too unfamiliar with everything. But the blond still didn't understand this _electeecity_ concept.

When the lights turned red and the signal sounded for them to walk, a truck was barreling through the streets, headed right towards their intersection. It was coming closer and closer…Draco saw it when it was too late. All his brain could register was searing pain in his side and Harry screaming his name, and several other people, before his mind shut down, and all he saw was darkness.

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry, please don't hurt me! It had to be done…sort of. And that thing with Raito scaring the fuck out of Draco, that happened with me and my cat, Lola. I was 9, it was nighttime, she somehow got in my room, I woke up to find her yellow eyes right in my face and I screamed bloody murder. Now, 4 years later, I'm still slightly scared of the dark, even though I don't have Lola anymore. And as I said in the beginning note, I'm leaving for Utah today, and will be gone for 4 days. See you! (And I can't bring my laptop for whatever reason…)

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	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: I'm back~! Well, I was actually back on Monday, but I was too lazy and sore from Saturday. Utah was great! I went hiking for about 12 hours at Zion's National Park (I uploaded some photos on my Tumblr and Instagram), walked through the Virgin River and fell in the water twice {but I landed on a hot guy B)}, then cuddled with kitties and had a Harry Potter movie marathon. And I went to Vegas. But now I'm back and ready to write! Here's chapter 9!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I only own Raito.**

**Side Note: **_**/Blah/ **_is a dream/vision sequence. _"Blah" _is telepathy.

* * *

_**/"No! No, he has to be alright, he can' be dead!" **_

"_**Aisu, calm down! He's not going to make it…just face it. My brother isn't…isn't coming with us. He's probably dead right now…"**_

_**Teary blue eyes turned to resigned red ones.**_

"_**But…Kasai…he can make it, he's strong, he can survive it! If anyone can, it's my best friend! We have to get help!"**_

_**A shake of the head, and a slightly hysterical voice.**_

"_**Our entire homeland just burned down, do you really think we're going to find help! Everyone's dead, we have to go, Aisu! As much as it kills me, we have to leave him here…"**_

_**A choked sob, followed by a slow nod. Blue eyes averted from red, and then closed. Abruptly, a high pitched cackle was heard, followed by shouts and the sound of feet running their way. The two figures' heads snapped up in the direction that the noises came from, then looked at each other.**_

"_**Aisu, we have to go, or else they'll find us; now come on! I know you're devastated, and I am, too…but we need to go!" The red-eyed figure cried.**_

_**Blue eyes just nodded miserably again, then turned to the body that lie next to them, with yellow eyes that held no life and charred silver fur.**_

"_**I'm sorry, Raito…"/**_

Draco sat up and gasped, shaken from the dream that he witnessed. As soon as he sat up, however, he screeched in pain, hands flying to his side, feeling bandages covering his skin.

The blond faintly heard someone shouting, "He's awake! Let me see him!" and then the door slamming open. When the pain started dying down slowly, he opened his eyes, not knowing when he had closed them, and turned to see who had entered the room.

Harry sat next to his bed, green eyes full of relief, terror, and concern. Draco was still a bit dazed, and couldn't remember much before his dream.

'_Wait…the dream! That was Raito! And his brother…he never said he had a brother…and Aisu…what happened to them?' _Draco pondered, looking away from Harry and out the window. He decided to talk to Raito later, when he found out where he was.

"Draco," Harry began, his voice trembling with so many emotions. "Are…are you ok? Merlin, I couldn't even think straight when I saw you get hit! I'm sorry I couldn't do anything; I would have saved you or taken your place if I could have…ju-just tell me you're alright…" Tears were spilling from emerald eyes, and Draco had a recall of Aisu crying.

Shaking his head to try and forget his strange dream, then immediately regretting it seconds later, Draco answered his boyfriend.

"I-I think I'm alright…I don't remember much…what happened? The last thing I can recall clearly is crossing the street…then nothing. And why am I all bandaged and in pain? Actually, where am I?"

Harry opened his mouth to respond, but he was interrupted by the door sliding open, and two Healers walking in, one female, and one male. Draco read their nametags, and saw their names were Annabel Cross and Nathaniel Becker, respectively.

"So, Mr. Malfoy, awake now, are you? That's a relief; we were afraid you wouldn't make it," as Healer Becker said the last part, Harry grabbed Draco's hand and squeezed it.

"You suffered terrible injuries, Mr. Malfoy. The ribs on your right side were completely smashed, and your left ribs were jarred. Your head was spared, but barely, you will have occasional migraines; we had to regrow your hip, but you will have a limp for a few months, until your body adjusts, and even then it might not go away. You should stay off your legs for now, though. We don't want you injuring anything. Lastly, you will be staying here at St. Mungo's for about three to four weeks so we can monitor your healing progress." Healer Cross informed the young couple, and apologetic smile on her face.

Draco nodded slowly, and gripped Harry's smaller hand tightly. He was still confused on what had hit him, and he felt rather frightened that he would have to spend several weeks without seeing his boyfriend every day. Sure, Harry could visit, but he still had lessons and studying back at Hogwarts. The blond Slytherin sighed and settled back onto his pillow, keeping Harry's hand firmly in his own for comfort.

* * *

After making sure that Draco's condition would remain steady for now, Healer Becker and Cross left, and asked Harry to make sure that Draco had plenty of water and some food to keep his energy up. When the Gryffindor had asked why his boyfriend couldn't take any potions, Healer Cross explained that they would do now good right now; Draco's insides would reject them and he would feel a powerful burning sensation in his liver and intestines for a few hours.

Hermione and Ron had stopped by as well, which surprised Draco. Harry then informed him that he had been in a sort of comatose state for a week. Hermione also told him that Harry had nearly driven Remus and Sirius up the wall with his constant worrying and crying, which caused Harry to ask her in an angry tone, "What, am I not allowed to worry about my boyfriend, who could have been _dying!?"_

There was a slight lull in the conversation, which no one really knew how to respond. Finally, Ron spoke up, belting out six words in a rush.

"You better get well soon, Malfoy!" And he then proceeded to run, dragging a protesting Hermione behind him.

Draco and Harry stared after them, and then started laughing. Cradling his boyfriend's face in his hands, Draco brought their faces closer together, then gave him a small kiss.

"I really was worried about you, Dray. I was so scared you would die on me. Raito was terrified too. He couldn't be here because he's classified as a dangerous animal. Believe me, Remus and I tried to bring him in." Harry said softly, offering Draco a smile, which he returned.

"I have no doubt about that. I'm guessing that Remus went home or something? We've been here about an hour or so…and visiting hours are almost up…" The Slytherin frowned, not wanting to part from Harry yet. He could tell that the Gryffindor was thinking the same thing from the pout on his face.

Kissing him again, Draco asked Harry how Raito had been doing while he was unconscious.

Harry sighed and told him, "Not good. He was in shock when I first went back to Grimmauld Place to tell everyone, then he stopped eating and being the little annoying prat he is. He doesn't move from the spot in front of the fireplace, and…I'm worried. I did hear him say something like, "What if he has the dream…?" but I don't know what that could mean."

Draco felt his heart plummet, but then he realized something Harry had said.

"Wait…you said you heard him say something?! Harry, that's amazing! Since you can hear him, it means that you and I are bonded as well!" He smiled, bringing his green-eyed boyfriend into a careful hug.

* * *

It was midnight, and Harry had left two hours ago, leaving Draco bored and tired, but he didn't want to go to sleep and have another dream like earlier. Suddenly, he had an idea. The blond hoped it worked; he hadn't done it before.

"_Raito…hey, Raito!" _Draco called out to his familiar, hoping he would answer. He wasn't disappointed.

Back at Grimmauld Place, everyone was asleep except Raito. Even though Harry had told him Draco was alright, he still didn't move from his spot. Although, he did accept the food that Remus and Sirius had given him. However, when he heard his partner's voice, he nearly had a heart attack. _"Draco? Is that you? You're…you're ok?"_

"_For the most part. I'm supposed to stay here for about a month so the Healers can make sure I'm recovering properly, and when I'm released, I'm supposed to have a slight limp and some migraines. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. Well, it is, but that's not all."_

Cocking his head, Raito stared at the wall, his curiosity spiking. _"What's the other part, then?"_

"_I had a dream, and there were these two figures, one was named Aisu, and the other was…Kasai, I think. Who are they? And what happened to you? That night I found you in the forest, you were bleeding. But in my dream, you were burned. Please, Raito, tell me what happened!" _ Draco pleaded, wanting to find out what other secrets his familiar had.

It was a few moments before Draco got a response.

"…_I'll tell you tomorrow. Get some sleep, and then talk to me again at 11 AM. I'll spill everything."_

* * *

**A/N: Yay, another one day chapter! Really, my motivation is no internet. No internet=I have to type this shit up so I can upload. No YouTube, Fanfiction, or Tumbr before it's finished. It's painful, but it works. I want to know something: Am I uploading frequently, or slowly? I don't know what the average uploading speed is, but I think I've been going steady, but I'm not sure. Also, see my profile for more stories that I'm currently working on! They'll be published when I'm done with them, which will hopefully be soon. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

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	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: Ok, so I guess I'll try to update at least twice a week. But just remember that I have a week left of school, then I'm going to Washington DC for about a week, then I'm getting ready to move to LA, and then it's summer, and I'm free until I start high school! And my Rintori fic (Mirai no Kagami) is about halfway done, and I'm starting the others. My boring intro aside, I present chapter 10.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter. I only have a calendar, the books, the movies, and my friend let me borrow her Gryffindor robe (even though I'm a Slytherin!).**

* * *

Draco didn't sleep very well that night. His curiosity had kept him awake, and even when he had finally managed to fall asleep, the dream he had the previous night had managed to sneak its way into his subconscious, so Draco tossed and turned all night to try and ignore the disturbing images and conversations. So by the time he had woken up the next morning, he was tired as hell and short-tempered.

Draco had managed to intimidate about four professional healers, three therapists, and a witch who came to give him his breakfast. All by nine in the morning.

Eating an apple and drinking a tiny bit of pumpkin juice, Draco was bored as fuck. He couldn't talk to Raito until eleven, Harry was probably still asleep, and no one in St. Mungo's was very good company. His thoughts were interrupted by Healer Becker coming in, apparently unfazed by Draco's cranky mood earlier.

"Alright, Mr. Malfoy, I'm going to cast a spell which lets me see how your organs are healing. If you look on this monitor," the bearded Healer pointed out a small screen next to his bed, "You will see different colors. Green indicates almost too fully healed, yellow is still recovering, and red specifies as you're sill hurt very badly in that spot. Understand?"

Draco nodded, and asked, "So if everything is healing correctly, I can go home sooner?"

Healer Becker nodded, then looked over to the door when it opened, revealing one Harry Potter. The brunet healer laughed, signaling Harry to come in. The Boy-Who-Lived smiled nervously, quickly walking over to the chair he had occupied yesterday.

"Good morning, Draco. How are you feeling? Ron and Hermione send their get well wishes…well, Hermione does. Ron just grunted." Harry blushed and smiled, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Draco smiled back and answered his concerned boyfriend, "I'm fine, Harry. My side still hurts, but that's to be expected, I'm having slight difficulty breathing, and I got a migraine sometime this morning. It made me pretty irritable…"

Healer Becker laughed again, reminding the couple that he was still in the room. "He was indeed a pain this morning, but I don't blame him. If I had been hit with a truck, I would be in a bad mood, too!"

Despite the seriousness of the truck incident, the way Healer Becker had teased Draco about his pissy mood had Harry trying to hide his laughter behind his hand, but ultimately failing. The blond Slytherin just rolled his eyes at his hysterical boyfriend and slapped him in the arm.

When everyone quieted down, Healer Becker cast the spell on Draco, and an image of his insides appeared on the monitor. Draco was speechless when he saw how much red there was, and only one tiny patch of green. His left hip was red, his ribs were red, shoulder was red, leg, a small part of his intestines, and pretty much everything on his left side was red. His head was yellow, as well as his lungs, and the little green spot was his liver.

Draco didn't know how to react quite yet. He didn't feel any of the pain, and he was breathing fine. Whenever he moved in his bed, it didn't hurt one bit, just mild discomfort. Looking at Harry and seeing shock and concern on his face, then turning to Healer Becker, he asked in a trembling voice, "What…why is all that re there, yet I can't feel it?! Am I supposed to feel it? Am I not going to get better? Tell me, Healer!"

Seeing that his boyfriend was become hysterical, Harry wrapped an arm over Draco's shoulder, but careful not to touch the left one. The blond responded by leaning into the side embrace, and gripping Harry's shirt tightly.

"Calm down, Mr. Malfoy! We managed to slip some numbing potion into your food and drink, so you don't feel pain on the inside. Your body had stabilized itself overnight, so you can handle potions now. However, I still advise you not to move around that much. Healer Cross and I are doing everything we can to make sure you make a complete recovery before we send you back to Hogwarts." Healer Becker reassured the two fifth years. Then, turning to Harry, he asked, "Mr. Potter, can you tell Dumbledore that Draco won't be able to attend Hogwarts for a bit after break ends tomorrow?"

Harry nodded; he had planned on doing that anyway. Hogwarts would be boring without Draco there. No one to keep him romantic company and no one to rant to when Umbridge had been nasty to him. Plus, Hermione had set up another Dumbledore's army meeting, but Draco wouldn't be there. He sighed and kissed his boyfriend; hopefully he would be fit to return to Hogwarts in a few weeks.

* * *

Healer Becker had given him some pain relieving potions and he had asked Harry to go down to the cafeteria to get him some food. It was just about eleven, so Draco opened the mind link to Raito.

"_Rai, can you tell me now?" _

It was a few seconds before his familiar replied in a sassy tone, _"No. We still have a few minutes until it's eleven. Therefore, I can't tell you."_

"_Stop teasing, you little shit. The dream kept me from sleeping properly the entire night, and I was touchy this morning. Just tell me!"_ Draco hissed, silver eyes turning slightly red.

"_Whoa there, you were getting touchy, eh? Was Harry there? Hope you got all 'touchy' with him!"_ Raito cackled, rolling around on the floor of Grimmauld Place. Not knowing why the lion was laughing, but just wanted to be part of the fun, Sirius started laughing with him. Remus just stared at them with disappointment in his brown eyes. _'Children, the lot of them…'_ He thought, shaking his head and returning to his book.

Back at St. Mungo's, Draco took a deep breath and sighed. _"Fine, if you're not going to tell me anything, I won't tell you about the sweet date Harry and I went on…"_

"_No! I want to hear it! I'll stop; just tell me afterwards, alright? I'm going to need something to cheer me up…"_

Draco made a strange noise in his throat. He didn't actually have a date story to tell Raito. Oh well, he could just tell his familiar about when they went out to the Muggle shops to get gifts. Minus the 'getting hit by a truck and landing in the bloody hospital.'

Raito took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to remember exactly what had happened. He telling Draco this secret would strengthen their bond drastically, and maybe, just _maybe, _he could help the blond heal faster.

"_Alright,"_ Raito began, and Draco lay down in his bed, getting comfortable for the no doubt long story.

"_I was only a newborn when my homeland was attacked for the first time. No real damage was done, because the attackers had so little men, but they did manage to burn one or two habitats down. My mother and father were disturbed by this though, and told me it was no longer safe to go outside. A few years went by, and I had a new little brother, Kasai. He looks like me, but with red eyes and black fur. Original, right?_

"_My parents eventually let me go back outside again, but only because Kasai and I begged them. When we got outside, we were just rolling around and play fighting, when we accidentally hit a white lion named Aisu. He growled at me, but something weird happened when he looked at Kasai, but it's not that important. I'll just let you know really quickly that some of my species have mates. For some reason, not all of us do; I can't really explain it. Aisu, Kasai, and I became the best of friends, and Aisu introduced us to his little brother, Kuso. _

"_Don't you dare tease me, but…I knew what Kasai had been talking about when he saw Aisu, when I saw Kuso. My chest exploded with fireworks…or whatever you call those big bang noises, and my mind just shut down for a few minutes. Or hours, I can't remember. He has beautiful dark brown fur and the most gorgeous green eyes, and the perfec lion-grin…our little brothers were about the same age, and so were Aisu and I, so we all got along very well. However, the attackers were at it again."_

"_Oh Merlin, Draco, they were so much stronger that time! Mother and Father ordered Kasai and I to save ourselves, but we wanted to save them…and we saw them being murdered, along many others…it was terrible! We ran for it then, and somewhere along the way, we ran into a hysterical Aisu. I noticed that Kuso wasn't there with him, so I asked him what had happened. He said that the attackers had killed him, and I froze…then…I can't remember much, other that something, like a spell, just hitting me out of nowhere and set my body on fire. As you can tell, it didn't kill me, but my fur isn't silver anymore like it used to be." _Raito finished, hiding his miserable face in the seat of the sofa; the atmosphere in the dark old house grew even gloomier if it was possible. Remus and Sirius were deeply concerned about the depressed lion, but didn't know what to do.

Hell, Draco didn't know what to do or say. Gulping, he tried to send his sympathy to Raito, and felt a slight loosening in his chest.

"_Do you know who the attackers were? And how you ended up bleeding and in the Forbidden Forest? Where was your home?"_ Draco asked, trying to be as considerate as he could, but he was clueless how.

Raito didn't respond for a few moments, and Draco was ready to close the link and give him some space when the reply came.

"_I can't exactly remember their names, but I think I heard them call themselves Death Eaters. My home was somewhere were you humans call it Asia, in a country called Mongolia. A huge-ass clearing in the middle of an enormous, ancient, forest. Our tribe/clan thing had many special talents, and some could make others hallucinate. That's how we protected ourselves for the most part. But apparently, magical folk are immune. As for the bleeding in the Forbidden Forest, I was captured by the Death Eaters after they burned me, and they healed me so they could just beat me again. I ran away as soon as I could, but I had no idea where I was, so it took me a while to get out and it was difficult to get to where you found me, even though I didn't know where the hell I was going. That's all I can remember. I'm not sure if Aisu and Kasai are even alive…"_

Draco stiffened when Raito said Death Eaters, but quickly turned to confusion when he said he'd lived in Mongolia. Since his father is part of the Death Eaters and Draco had been expected to become one; the elder Malfoy had always told him where he was going for a raid, or to convert more purebloods. But he couldn't recall if Lucius had ever gone to Mongolia. His thoughts were interrupted when Harry opened the door and walked in with a tray of food and a drink.

Sending Raito a quick apology that he had to close the link for now and promised they would talk later, Draco took small bites from his food, and Healer Cross had warned him earlier not to take huge bites from his food or eat too quickly, for his stomach had shrunken. That actually hurt Draco a lot; he loved eating.

* * *

The day had gone by like that, and before Draco knew it, visiting hours were over, and Harry, Remus, Hermione, Ron, and even Neville were being evacuated. The four had popped in around one in the afternoon, and Harry and Draco had a hard time keeping the smiles off their face from all the jokes and funny Christmas stories they had. Remus' had been the most entertaining.

Sirius had felt that everyone in Grimmauld Place was being too gloomy, so he went out under disguise into the muggle world and bought a Christmas tree, along with lights, ornaments, and even the popcorn strings (which Raito ate later on). However, things had gone wrong and Sirius had somehow managed to get all tangled up in the lights, and Remus had nearly busted a gut laughing. The dog animagus had eventually started laughing as well, happy that his friend was smiling again.

But now they were gone, and Draco was alone with his thoughts. He stared at the white ceiling, the white walls, the white everything. White was his least favourite colour, yet one of his favourites at the same time. He guessed it was because white was the color of snow, and snow happened in winter, which was his favourite season. But white was also the colour of walls and ceilings and rooms where they held you in when you went mad, and Draco felt he was going mad from his thoughts.

However, the moon was shining through the window in his room, illuminating the white and turning into a more peaceful and serene silver colour.

When Draco was finally drifting off to sleep, he heard a tapping at the window. Opening his eyes and slowly turning his head, he saw his father's horned owl, holing a letter in its beak. Draco's eyes widened when it somehow undid the lock on the window and flew into his room, the piercing yellow eyes making him uncomfortable.

He took the letter from the owl, and it immediately flew off, leaving the window open the curtains blew and a slight breeze chilled the air. Draco shivered; it felt just like the sensation that the Dementors gave everyone when they were near. The young Slytherin had a brief thought that his father was secretly a Dementor, but quickly got rid of it.

Opening the letter with shaking hands, Draco read:

_Draco, _

_I've received news from one of your housemates that you refused to obey my words, and continued frolicking with the Gryffindors. She (your Housemate) also informed me that you are apparently involved with Harry Potter. I'll give you one chance to redeem yourself and turn him in to the Dark Lord, but for now, consider yourself disowned from the Malfoy name. If you don't turn in Potter in a month from now…I will make sure you regret it._

_-Lucius Malfoy_

Draco stared at the letter in horror for a few moments before letting it drop from his hands. He was in deep shit now.

* * *

**A/N: I'm reading a book called Wonder by R.J. Palencio and I love it. I can't say enough good about it, and the characters are perfect, even if they are supposed to be a mean character. Basically, the book is about a boy named August Pullman (not Augustus Waters), and he has a severe face deformity, and he's going to school for the first time ever. And he gets to start in middle school. He's scared as hell.\I really recommend this book to anyone. It's an easy read, and you'll love it! Ok, all that shameless advertising aside, that was chapter 10. As well as trying to update sooner to keep you lot happy, I'm going to try to make the chapters longer. So thank you all for bearing with me!**

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	12. Chapter 11

Harry was walking towards the Room of Requirement, wanting to get there early for the DA meeting. He had returned to Hogwarts a week ago, taking Raito with him, since Sirius didn't want the lion in his house until Draco got better. Raito had fully agreed. Harry had told Dumbledore about what had happened to Draco, and then Dumbledore told Snape, since the Potions Professor was the closest thing the young blond had to a parent.

So Snape would be gone for a few days, and he would be staying at Grimmauld Place, with Sirius and Remus, while he prepared some potions to help Draco's recovery. Sirius had obviously protested, but Remus had lightly berated him and that had been that. Actually, the emerald-eyed wizard wasn't so sure he wanted to know the exact way Remus had convinced Sirius…

Harry had visited his boyfriend as often as Dumbledore allowed him, which wasn't often because of Umbitch interfering and saying how students shouldn't be leaving the castle without Ministry consent. But Dumbledore didn't play by those rules, so he got to see Draco at least twice a week. And Draco was never really lonely. The blond had conversations with Healer Becker about what a healer can do and what subjects he had to excel in so he could become a healer when he graduates, and got daily telepathy talks with Raito. It made Harry ecstatic to see his boyfriend healing and smiling.

Letting out a pained yelp when his forehead came in contact with a wall, Harry realized he had been spacing out the whole time he had been walking. Shaking his head, he thought, _'I need a room where we can practice our spells…'_ three times and paced back and forth, while still rubbing his forehead.

When the door finally materialized, Harry opened it up and saw a nice, large room with a few mirrors on the wall, an enormous bookshelf next to the mirrors, and some statues standing in the back. Deciding to gain a little knowledge before everyone else arrived; Harry grabbed a book on some hexes and charms, and sat down on a sofa that the room had provided him with.

About 10 minutes later, a blond Ravenclaw walked in, and sat down next to him, reading over his shoulder. Well, it seemed like she was reading; Harry couldn't really tell.

"You have Wrackspurts all around you, did you know? They're messing with your head, and giving you weird thoughts, aren't they? You should get rid of them." The blonde girl said, her blue eyes seeming like they were looking straight into his soul.

Harry briefly wondered what a Wrackspurt even was, but he didn't get a chance to ask, as Hermione, Ron, Neville, Dean, and a Hufflepuff named Justin Finch-Fletchy walked in. Justin looked over to where Harry and the Ravenclaw were sitting on the sofa, and he waved to the girl, signaling her to come over.

"Luna, come on, we're in Hermione's group. We're learning about Charms." The Hufflepuff said, going to stand next to the bushy-haired Gryffindor. The blonde girl, Luna, smiled at Harry and went to go join Justin in standing next to Hermione. Dean sent a peace sign in Harry's direction, and moved to stand next to Ron. Harry grinned back at his friend and set the book down next to him, getting up to stand next to Hermione, who had a list.

"Alright, Harry. Since Draco is on hiatus, we had to switch around the members a bit, alright? I have Padma, Parvati, Cho Chang, Justin, Ernie Macmillan, Luna, Lavender, and Michael Corner, since they were willing and eager to learn some sharms and magical theory. Ron over there has Dean, Seamus, Hannah Abbott, Anthony Goldstein, Zacharias Smith, Marietta Edgecomb, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet. You, Harry, have Fred and George, Ginny, Katie Bell, Terry Boot, Mandy Brocklehurst, Neville, Susan Bones, and Colin. The lesson starts in about 15 more minutes, so let's just practice some spells while we're waiting for the others." Hermione stated, already pulling out her wand and began firing spells at the statues in the back. Ron and Dean quickly followed, along with Justin.

Luna just stood there and watched them for a few seconds before smiling and walking over to Harry. The emerald-eyed teen gave her a tentative smile back, not knowing what to expect from her. The earlier comment about these 'Wrackspurts' or whatever had caught him off guard. Luna seemed friendly enough though, so Harry decided he would be nice as well.

They were making small talk as the other occupants of the room continued firing spells. The door opened again, and in came Anthony, Ernie, Fred and George, Parvati, Padma, Lavender, Ginny, Hannah and Susan, Cho, and Neville. Others filtered in, but Harry didn't bother to identify them, as long as his entire group was here.

Hermione was cleared her throat and stood in front of everyone except Ron and Harry, who were standing by her sides. Taking a deep breath, she began, "Hello everyone, welcome to your second meeting with the DA. Even though it's only December, I can tell everyone here has definitely improved.

"As you may have noticed, Draco isn't here. For those of you who do not know, Draco was in a terrible accident, and is currently healing at St. Mungo's. Harry says he'll be back in a week or two, but he will have a limp, so no strenuous dueling when he's back, you got it?" She narrowed her eyes at all of the members, and Harry added in his own glare for good measure. He never wanted his boyfriend to get hurt again.

All the DA members nodded, though Harry had no idea when all of them had gotten there. Shrugging, he went over to the side of the room, and asked the room for a practice dummy.

"Alright guys," Harry said, turning to face his group. "Today we are going to be practicing the Bat-Bogey Hex. As you can see, we have a practice dummy over there, so that's where you'll be aiming. I will be standing by watching your stance, wand movement, and how you say the incantation, alright? So get in a line and start."

* * *

"-And they totally did it, Dray! I think Neville is really improving, and Ginny excelled at the Bat-Bogey Hex! I think Ron, Fred, and George have a reason to fear her now! Aw man, it was great!" Harry rambled on and on to his boyfriend, telling him about how his entire group had successfully (well, except for Nigel, but he was getting the hang of it) cast the hex. Since they had extra time, they also practiced the Protego charm.

Draco, on his part, had stopped listening to Harry a while ago, too worried about the fact that someone in Slytherin knows he was dating Harry, had told his father, and now his father was demanding him to turn Harry over to the Dark Lord. He snapped back to reality when his Gryffindor waved his hand in his face.

"Draco, are you listening to me?" Harry frowned, crossing his arms. Draco sighed and nodded, watching his boyfriend's frown turn into anger.

"What the hell, Draco? I'm telling you about something exciting, and you don't even listen? What's going on?" Draco turned his head away when Harry hissed at him, not wanting the raven-haired teen to see the mixed emotions in his silver eyes.

"Harry…look, it's not you, it's me," As Draco said this, Harry tensed up, believing the blond Slytherin was about to break up with him. "I got a letter from my father last night, telling me that I am disowned from the Malfoy name unless I turn you over to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I would never do it, but what's got me spacing out is that someone in my house knows we're dating, and told my father. I have no idea who it is, either. I can't stop thinking about it." Draco finished, feeling a migraine coming on from all the thoughts in his head.

He felt the bed dip as Harry sat next to him and wrapped his arms around the older wizard's neck.

"I'm sorry, Dray…I wouldn't have yelled if I knew. Do you have any idea who it could be? Do you think its boy or a girl? And I know you would never turn me in to Voldemort. Merlin knows how badly Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and everyone else would curse you." Harry tried to tease, smiling slightly into Draco's shoulder.

Draco chuckled softly, and moved to lie down, shifting so that Harry had some room to lie down in his bed as well.

"Come on, let's get some rest. You've had quite a day today, I'm guessing, and you need some sleep."

"But Dray, what if a Healer sees us? Won't they get mad? Visitors aren't supposed to be in the patients' bed…"

"I'm sure they'll make an exception, Harry. Now shut up and go to sleep; you're going to make my migraine come back if you keep up with your unneeded babbling." Draco retorted, snaking his arms around the Golden Boy's waist and drawing him closer as he let sleep take over.

* * *

Raito was pacing back and forth, waiting for his friend to show up. He was in the Forbidden Forest, near the place Draco had found him.

He stopped pacing, and sat down on his haunches as he remembered how small he had been back then. In such a short time, he had grown so much. A spiky black mane covered the top and back of his head, and some fur also covered all four of his paws.

The golden eyes seemed like amber now, and Raito had small tufts of fur where his shoulder blades stuck out; the small tufts representing the wings that would grow there soon.

Raito heard an eerie whiny come from his right, and he turned towards the noise, seeing his friend. Inwardly, he was glad that other magical creatures could understand each other by default; no learning other animal's languages.

"Finally! You know how difficult it is to get out of Hogwarts undetected? Bloody impossible, I tell you. Anyway, I'm not here to talk about that. I suppose you already know, from the centaurs?" Raito asked, sitting down again.

His companion grunted in understanding, then let out a strange noise.

Raito nodded, and then sighed. "From what I've heard, Umbridge is getting worse. She hasn't been giving Harry detention lately, but she knows he's up to something." The other creature made another noise. "Yeah, I know what he's doing. Draco's in on it, too. So, are you sure all of your lot is up for this? The centaurs are more than willing, but it'll be a long flight for you."

A snort, whinny, and another snort was his companion's answer. Raito grinned at his friend. Draco and Luna (Raito was surprised when the girl had come up to him one day and started talking to him, and that surprise doubled when she could understand him. They shared a strong friendship now.) had been right; Thestrals really were nice creatures.

"Ok, so I'll see you soon. Don't be upset when I don't come back, alright? You'll see me anyway, what with you being on the balance of life and death."

Now that his business was done, Raito headed back to the Slytherin Common Room, using his personal passage that Dumbledore had been forced to give him. The old wizard was getting used to him being there, but was still wary incase Raito decided to attack someone.

Raito curled up on Draco's bed, suddenly feeling very lonely in the dark room. Merlin, he missed Draco. He couldn't see him for another whole week! If only he had been born with the side ability to transform, like Kuso had been, so he could go see his sort-of partner in crime.

'_Oh great,'_ Raito thought miserably. _'I've just managed to make myself even lonelier.'_

Sighing, the large black lion tried to fall asleep, only succeeding when it was the early hours of the morning.

* * *

**A/N: I don't know why this chapter is kind of late. I guess I'm just lazy. But I reared myself up because IT'S DRACO'S 34****th**** BIRTHDAY! I wore my Slytherin Quidditch shirt to school, and my black shorts, since I don't have anything gray, and my Hogwarts Symbol earrings! I also wrote 'Happy 34****th****, Draco Malfoy' on my arm in green marker. It was a good day today. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I plan to end this fic in about…maybe another 8 or so chapters? Probably more, depending on how much I can type.**

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